Republic overcame a slow start to take a late lead in the Blue & Gold Tournament, but a defensive switch in the fourth quarter helped Greenwood win the Gold Division championship with a 57-54 victory. A 35-foot running jumper by Drew McMillin at the buzzer clanged off the front of the rim to preserve the Blue Jays’ win.
The Tigers fell behind 18-9 at the end of the first quarter before adjusting to Greenwood’s physical style. The Blue Jays feature 6’5″ Aminu Mohammed – one of the top high school players in the country – along with 6’8″ Victory Naboya and 6’7″ Kaden Stuckey up front. They dominated the board and used that advantage to sprint ahead of the Tigers over the first eight minutes.
“After the start, the shock of how physical we had to be with them on second-chance shots, I think we adjusted well. We gave up…eight second-chance points in the first quarter and got down nine,” said coach Tim Brown. “We kind of got our feet under us to see what it was going to be like – the physicality of it and how much harder we needed to block out to finish those plays.”
The second quarter belonged to Republic, as they outscored Greenwood 20-12 to cut the Blue Jays’ halftime lead to one, 30-29. The Tigers made four three-pointers in the quarter: one each by Ahlante Askew, Drew McMillin, Carson Neff, and Tyson Young.
Republic had been playing a so-called “junk defense” – a combination of zone and man-to-man – shadowing Mohammed the entire game in an attempt to limit his scoring. He ended up with 24 points. But in the second half, Greenwood joined Republic – putting a triangle-and-two defense in place with man-to-man coverage of Askew and McMillin. McMillin and Askew scored just five combined points in the third quarter, but six from Avery Moody and five from Neff helped the Tigers grab the lead heading into the fourth quarter, 45-44.
Greenwood opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run, but despite the Blue Jays’ defensive change, McMillin scored nine of his team-high 20 points. He was the only Republic player to score in the final eight minutes.
“You play the team that has the best player in the country and multiple Division One players on the floor, and our two little guards get junk defensed. I think that says a lot about our team and our players,” said Brown. “We got some great looks from other guys and just didn’t make them.”
A turnover in the final minute hurt the Tigers, but they still had a shot at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime. McMillin brought the ball into the front court and had an open look, but it fell just short.
“We were right there and gave ourselves a chance. What we said coming in was (we want to) give our guards a chance to make a play at the end, and we did. We got a great look.”
Greenwood improved to 11-0, while Republic suffered its first loss of the season. The second-place finish is Republic’s best since 2017, when the Tigers lost to Springfield Catholic 46-45 in the title game.
The Tigers are 10-1 heading into January. They host Springfield Central on January 5.
